Officials at Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT) DoCoMo said they are investing 37 billion Yen (U.S. $342.7 million) over the next two years for the development of Linux and Symbian operating system technology on its next-generation wireless phones.
The news comes as the telecom giant is making a big push
in the Japanese market for the adoption of 3G
Internet phones under its brand name Freedom of Mobile multimedia Access
(FOMA).
It also builds on NTT DoCoMo’s already-announced commitment to embracing Linux and Symbian-based platforms in its products instead of Microsoft’s competing handheld platform. The telecom giant said its decision was based on cutting costs and adhering to open standards.
While 2G wireless phones cover much of the country’s inhabited areas,
its slow data transfer rate of 9.6 kbps/29.8 kbps (upload/download)
makes advanced service nearly impossible to pull off. Wireless telecom
providers like NTT DoCoMo, KDDI/AU and JPhone/Vodaphone have been
investing heavily in 3G, which will bring the 64 kbps/200 kbps speeds
necessary for two-way video telephony and other bandwidth-consuming
applications.
Six Japanese handset manufacturers will divvy up the investment –
Fujitsu Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Motorola Japan Ltd., NEC Corp.,
Panasonic Mobile Communications Ltd. and Sharp Corp. Under the terms of
the agreement, NTT DoCoMo will share ownership rights with any new
technology created from the investment.
According to its press release, NTT DoCoMo is hoping the cash infusion
will spur the manufacturers into creating innovative products that take
advantage of 3G speeds. The company expects to have a new series of 3G
handsets, the FOMA “900i” series, on the market early next year, so it
stands to reason the development now is funding the creation of cell
phones that will replace next year’s crop of phones.
Announced Thursday, the FOMA 900i series handsets come with a two
megapixel
storage. The phones are packed with applications such as an Macromedia
Flash equipped browser, HTML
avatar-based videophone capability (chara-den) and the ability to tie
video and music to incoming signals (chaku-motion). Pricing on the
phones will be announced when they are released.
NTT DoCoMo is relying on the 900i phones and its successors to increase
its 3G presence in Japan over the next several years. As of December,
the provider has 1.7 million FOMA customers on its network, a number
Takeshi Natsuno, NTT DoCoMo i-mode planning department managing
director, wants to increase in the coming years.
The i-mode is an always-on Internet service for mobile phones using the
wireless application protocol
is used by more than 40 million Japanese users on the 2G and 3G
networks.
Beginning in February, 2004, Natsuno said the company is going to lay
out a very ambitious 3G expansion campaign, and expects to garner two
million new FOMA customers by the end of March, 2004.
Currently, the FOMA footprint covers 96 percent of Japan; NTT DoCoMo
plans to expand its presence by expanding its service in certain regions
to bring the nationwide coverage rate to 99 percent by March, 2004. To
do so, it’s adding 10,700 base stations throughout the countryside and
800 in-building mobile communication systems for high-rise buildings,
underground shopping areas and subway stations.
